On April 3, a pair of Levi’s jeans sparked conversation in a show called “Strange Inheritances,” which aired on Fox Business in the United States. On the one hand, because it has a long enough history – the program team said that it is “the oldest new jeans in existence”.
And for this sense of history, the jeans were given a high valuation of tens of thousands of dollars by a shareholder jeans collector at the beginning of the show.
The “treasure” jeans were found in a large ancestral wooden suitcase at home by a middle-aged American named Jock Taylor. At first, he didn’t think there was anything special about this dusty pants, but when he shook the dust, he accidentally found that the back pocket of these jeans had Levi’s signature stitching, but there were many differences from Levi’s jeans now, such as it had exposed studs, a strap buckle, and a single back pocket.
Taylor began to suspect that Levi’s might be an antique. As far as he knows, the large wooden box that has always contained the jeans originally belonged to his maternal great-grandfather, Solomon Warner. After Warner’s death, the box was passed down from generation to generation, and after several turns, Taylor inherited it from his mother.
That said, if these pants are Warner’s legacy, that means it’s less than 100 years old.
In the show, Taylor’s conjecture is confirmed, because the strangeness of the jeans he observes happens to be evidence of its history. For example, the exposed rivets indicate that the pants were produced at least before 1937, when Levi’s jeans after that year had rivets wrapped in denim.
For example, the buckle indicates that the trousers must have been produced earlier than 1922. Because since 1922, Levi’s jeans have begun to have belt loops that can be used to tie belts. In addition, the most important thing is the single pocket on the back of the trousers, which pushes the age of the entire pair of jeans forward another 20 years, because after 1901, Levi’s began to make jeans with two back pockets.
The test was made by auction industry expert Daniel Buck Soules. He eventually dated the pants in 1893. Its judgment is based on the life of Solomon Warner, in addition to changes in Levi’s production process and product characteristics.
In fact, Solomon Warner is a celebrity for scholars of Arizona history: as one of the first pioneers of westward gold nuggets, Solomon Warner traveled all the way from upstate New York in the eastern United States in the 1830s, and finally took root in the southern Arizona city of Tucson, and has always made a living selling domestic products. Scholar Jim Turner once said that if you want to buy something locally, “you have to go to Solomon Warner.” Warner eventually died in 1899.
According to the US media “New York Post”, for this year and the history behind it, Levi’s wants to buy back the jeans for $50,000, and the brand has a long tradition of buying back the brand’s antique jeans – in the Beijing Blue Harbor store, Levi’s has a few pairs of antique jeans. In this regard, Nicolas Versloot, managing director of Levi’s Greater China, repeatedly mentioned in an interview with Interface News that this is an important means of brand promotion of historical traditions. In the U.S., Levi’s did have a precedent for spending six-figure dollars to buy back jeans.
But Taylor did not accept the deal. Considering that the pants are brand new and properly maintained, he thinks there will be vintage lovers who love buying and wearing antique jeans willing to make a higher offer. His psychological price tag for the jeans was $100,000.
It’s just that Taylor doesn’t seem to think about the practicality of these pants – since Warner is a big man, these 44-inch waist and 37-inch (44W x 37L) plus-size pants aren’t suitable for most people. Therefore, from this point of view, Levi’s should be a more suitable target for changing hands than individual buyers.
“Size really matters,” the jeans collector said at the end of the show, “if it’s too big or too small, then jeans become less valuable.” ”